Puffins and Auklets and Whales...a big bunch of images...

I had arranged a trip for yesterday to look for Puffins in Puget Sound. All told there are only about 15 pair of these birds here. I got a group of 9 local folks together for this. If anyone has paid any attention to WA State weather this past week, it has been miserable. Rain, hail, wind, even a small funnel cloud nearby. But we did the "anti-rain" dance and sacrificed all the appropriate sacrificial thing-a-ma-bobs and didn't get rained on. Weather was decent, although overcast with very flat light. My wife Nancy went along, armed with the D70 and that old, rotten, piece of junk 70-200VR that Joe Marques used to own.

All we needed was a bit more sun and a good sunset to make the day perfect, but I'll take 97% any day :lol: . Unlike most of our recent trips, we actually found all of what we were looking for, although I don't think any of us got good shots of the one Orca we saw.

For those who have not tried shooting from a moving boat before, let me say that it adds a WHOLE new dimension to the "difficulty level". No way to use a tripod, shooting the 500mm off a monopod was, to say the least, exciting. Next time I'm renting the 200-400 VR.

The first images here were taken by my wife Nancy, who says that she just can't do this and has no idea why anyone would take more than one picture of any one thing anyway. I think she now knows why. All I can say is that I wish this first one was mine :lol:

Excellent series, neat birds too boot. have to agree with Gale, luv those puffins!!! And Bill for the record, stay away from the 200-400m VR, you will rent it, then you will NOT rest until you have one permanently in your possession. LOL

I have seen it much worse out in the Sound, it was a bit riled up due to all of the weather activity we have been having, but it was quite manageable. Only one person on the boat had any motion sickness issues.

When I found out that we have Puffins here and had the opportunity to go and see them, I just oculdn't pass it up.

Thanks, Keith. Had the Puffins been in their burrows, the closest we sould have been was about 1/4 mile, the poor birdies would have been even smaller then. Lucky that we found them where we did. It would have been really neat to see them feed.

As tot he 200-400, when I rented the 500 a year and a half ago my plan was to just rent it when I "needed" it. and a few months later I owned the Sigma 500. So, as you can see, I have the willpower to resist the tempatation after I rent a lens..... :wink:

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